


my dreams don't know fear

by dev0n



Category: Daredevil (TV), Homestuck, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Frank Castle/Matt Murdock (background), Gen, I Can't Believe I Wrote This
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13382475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dev0n/pseuds/dev0n
Summary: terezi felt him gesture for her to follow him. she didn't move. he didn't move. karen cleared her throat awkwardly, pausing halfway out of her seat as she started toward mr. nelson's office."matt, she's, uh...""I'm blind," terezi said bluntly, her smile shifting into something more like amusement ─ even though she got the distinct impression that mr. murdock already knew that.hm.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> one of my friends started rereading homestuck and i'm still in the middle of my daredevil phase and..................... listen, i'm not even gonna bother. long story short, the document title for this is 'god i hate myself'. not beta'd, proofread by me. title from we got the power by gorillaz.

Terezi Pyrope often felt eyes on her wherever she went. Being blind certainly attracted some attention, but in New York, few people gave it very much thought. The thing that really caught peoples' attention was her manner of dress. As Kanaya had once affectionately put it, Terezi _'dressed like a blind woman.'_

The thing was, she _didn't,_ not really. Terezi's outfits were always perfectly coordinated, they were just... Very bright. There was no way to explain how that worked to anyone without also having to explain her unique senses, so she never bothered trying. Terezi just smiled ─ she was always smiling ─ and wordlessly dared people to say something.

Today, the colors were just as bright as usual. As she ascended the stairs, Terezi could smell the candy apple red of her nail polish, which almost perfectly matched her shirt and shoes; in unique contrast, the skirt and blazer she was wearing smelled lemony-fresh.

The tap-tap-tapping of Terezi's cane (white and red, coconut and more candy apples, another ever-familiar scent) came to a stop as she reached the door she'd been looking for. She knew it was the right one already, but just to be sure, she ran her fingertips over the Braille sign outside the door. _Law Offices of Nelson and Murdock._ Terezi grinned, straightened her blouse, and opened the door.

"Hello, I'll be with you in just one moment," said a pretty voice from behind a desk that Terezi could smell was on the other side of the room. Terezi took a few steps to the side until her cane hit the chair that she already knew was there, then seated herself there, crossing her legs and waiting patiently.

Terezi's senses of hearing and touch weren't quite as good as her senses of smell, taste, and balance, but she could still hear everything happening in the office. The pretty voice's phone conversation boring, though, or at least it was right now; a potential case for Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock. Terezi shifted her attention, then, listening through Mr. Murdock's office door. Fingers running over paper, occasional pauses to type something into a keyboard. The sounds behind Mr. Nelson's office door were much the same, except there was far more typing.

A couple minutes later, the voice from behind the desk hung up the phone and scribbled something onto a pad of paper. "Alright, sorry about that," said the voice. I'm Karen Page. How can I help you?"

Terezi got to her feet again and smoothed down her skirt. She moved forward confidently and came to a stop directly before the desk, wrapping both hands around the handle of her cane. "My name is Terezi Pyrope. I have a meeting with Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock at three."

"Right," Karen said, clicking something on her computer. Terezi could hear her smile. "You're the intern applicant, aren't you?"

"Yes," Terezi replied, giving Karen a smile of her own. She'd been told _her_ smiles made her look rather intimidating, sharklike, but that was usually in the courtroom. This was a sweet smile. At least, she was pretty sure.

"I'll just go get the two─"

Terezi heard movement from behind Mr. Murdock's door. It opened, and he stood in the doorway. "Hello," he said, and Terezi could hear a smile in his voice, too. She turned on the spot to face his approximate direction.

"─ Well, I guess I'll just go get Foggy, then," Karen laughed. "Will you be meeting in your office, Matt?"

"That works for me," Mr. Murdock replied. Terezi felt him gesture for her to follow him. She didn't move. He didn't move. Karen cleared her throat awkwardly, pausing halfway out of her seat as she started toward Mr. Nelson's office.

"Matt, she's, uh─"

"I'm blind," Terezi said bluntly, her smile shifting into something more like amusement ─ even though she got the distinct impression that Mr. Murdock already knew that. _Hm._

"Oh!" Mr. Murdock said. "I'm so sorry, Miss Pyrope."

Terezi waved the apology off, then laughed when she realized she, too, had done The Thing. She heard Karen let out a quiet, relieved sigh, sliding out of her chair and presumably going to retrieve Mr. Nelson from his office. "I waved dismissively," Terezi explained to Mr. Murdock as she drew a little closer. "I don't spend very much time around other blind people."

"Neither do I," Mr. Murdock admitted. He stepped out of the doorway and held it open. "Four paces straight ahead, Miss Pyrope."

"Thank you," Terezi smiled. Four paces straight ahead, and her hand found the back of a chair. She followed that around to the front, then took a seat, adjusting her skirt slightly when it rode up. Terezi quite suddenly remembered why she never wore skirts. She hated them.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't hear anybody out here," said a voice from the doorway a moment later, presumably Mr. Nelson. Terezi could feel him adjusting his tie, which smelled strongly of blueberries, but he stopped when he saw her. Relief, she was fairly certain, that he didn't really have to make himself look more presentable. To his credit, Mr. Nelson didn't miss a beat as he closed the door behind them and took the third seat in the room. "Miss Pyrope, it's a pleasure. I'm Franklin Nelson; this is my partner, Matt Murdock."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Nelson; Mr. Murdock." Terezi smiled. "I was surprised to see your office was accepting internship applications. You're a very small firm, but I've been following you for some time. I've attended some of your open court sessions."

"I thought I recognized the colors," Mr. Nelson said, and Terezi felt him flush with mild embarrassment. "Not that it's bad, it's just a very ─ distinctive style."

"That's the point," Terezi said breezily, utterly unbothered. "If people are going to stare, I might as well give them something pretty to stare at."

Mr. Murdock laughed at that, and she could hear the grin in his voice as he spoke up. "Do you mind if we ask a few questions, Miss Pyrope?"

"Fire away, Mr. Murdock," Terezi replied.

\---

The interview concluded after half an hour or so, and Terezi was asked to step out into the waiting room. She sat down again, trying to look impassive as she listened very intently through the door.

_"I like her."_

_"I mean, so do I, but people might think─"_

_"Does it really matter? Look, Foggy, she's our only applicant, anyway."_

People might think what? Terezi's brow furrowed slightly. But it didn't take the two long to make their decision, apparently; Mr. Nelson called her back into the office, and Terezi followed, this time standing before Mr. Murdock's desk. She already knew their answer, had heard it through the door, but hearing it said to her face was another thing entirely.

"Yes," Terezi said with utter confidence as soon as they made their offer. She shook hands with Mr. Nelson, but Mr. Murdock didn't offer. Still, Terezi had the strangest feeling that he'd know exactly how to find her hand if she extended it. _Hmmm._

Maybe she was just projecting.

Terezi pulled out her phone as she walked out of the office, entering Karkat's number from memory. She couldn't stop grinning if she tried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> terezi had lasted longer than the other 'worshipers', in any case, and she'd gotten her own name for her troubles: _redglare._
> 
> well, okay, she'd given that name to herself. but she'd shared it with the police, so it was official: she had her own name, just like daredevil!

This whole thing had started out with Terezi becoming, in the police department's words, a 'Devil worshiper'.

Terezi had been inspired by Daredevil, certainly, but being like him wasn't her motivation. There were plenty of the things that set her apart from the other vigilantes that'd come after Daredevil, she thought. Terezi had actual combat training, both before _and_ after the incident that'd blinded her. She didn't need her sight; the boost to her other senses was more than enough to compensate for it. She lasted longer than the other 'worshipers', in any case, and she'd gotten her own name for her troubles: _Redglare._

Well, okay, she'd given that name to herself. But she'd shared it with the police, so it was official: she had her own name, just like Daredevil!

Terezi had never actually run into Daredevil face-to-face, though; she went to great pains to avoid him, in fact, which was fairly easy to do. His particular smell was of black and red licorice, and she could smell him from several blocks away.

But tonight was just not her night, Terezi thought grouchily, using her cane-slash-grappling hook to swing from one rooftop to the next. She still smelled the briny squid ink of their ninja-clothes not far behind her, but try as she might, she couldn't hear their heartbeats, even when she finally found herself cornered. Why couldn't she hear them? She could easily hear most people from several buildings away, and ─

Speaking of which, she could hear a heartbeat now. It was accompanied by the smell of red and black licorice.

"If you say _'on your left',_ I'll stab you," Terezi warned a moment before Daredevil landed beside her on the roof, combat boots crunching heavily in the gravel.

"No, but I will say _'get out of here'_ ," Daredevil grunted, billy clubs in hand.

"And I will politely decline," Terezi said cheerfully, and the ninjas were upon them before Daredevil could argue further.

Terezi had to focus all of her concentration on fighting, so she didn't really have time to appreciate Daredevil's movements. But he really did fight like the Devil, and once he became convinced Terezi could actually stand her ground, the two worked _together_ amazingly well. At one point, they even fought back-to-back like in a movie, and Terezi would've swooned if she wasn't currently in the middle of non-lethally skewering one of the squid-ink ninjas.

Between the two of them, they took down the seven or so ninjas within minutes. Daredevil was hardly panting when he addressed her again: "Thank you. Now go."

"Why were there ninjas?" Terezi asked, completely ignoring his words and collapsing her badass dragon cane as she turned to face Daredevil. Amidst all of the bloodshed, Terezi hadn't noticed sooner, but now that she was paying attention, she realized that Daredevil himself seemed to smell particularly strongly of cherries. "You're bleeding, Daredevil."

"Probably," he agreed.

"No, you're bleeding a _lot_. Your thigh..."

"Is fine. You need to leave."

"There aren't any more of them."

Daredevil laughed. It wasn't a very kind one. "How would you know?"

I know," Terezi replied neutrally. "There aren't any more of them for blocks. But you're bleeding an awful lot. At _least_ let me help you get off the stupid roof."

"No."

Terezi sighed and shrugged. "I will just have to call the Punisher, then."

"What?" Daredevil frowned and looked up. "What does Frank Castle have to do with anything?"

Terezi was mostly bluffing; she'd only met the Punisher twice, and they weren't exactly _friends_ , but she _did_ get the impression that he had a hate-crush on Daredevil. Judging by the slight uptick in Daredevil's heartbeat, Terezi was definitely onto something there. "He sounded far too disappointed when he saw that I wasn't 'Red' the other night. Listen, just..."

"If I let you help me down to the street, will you leave this alone?"

"Maybe."

Daredevil sighed. "This isn't your fight, Redglare."

Terezi was not the squealing kind of person. Redglare most certainly was not, either. She was unable to help her grin, though; Daredevil knew her name! "My city, my fight," Terezi insisted firmly. "Now stop stalling, you're going to bleed out."

"I've had worse."

"I don't doubt it. I don't care. I repeat: stop stalling, you're going to bleed out."

Daredevil grumbled something under his breath that he must've assumed she couldn't hear. _'Worse than Claire,'_ it sounded like. Terezi politely pretended not to hear. Instead, she knelt beside one of the unconscious ninjas and quickly unwound the wrapping from around his left hand.

"What are you doing?" Daredevil asked, sounding almost scandalized.

"Tourniquet, stupid," was all Terezi said in response, and resisted the urge to wince. Did she really just call Daredevil _'stupid'?_

"Oh." Daredevil shifted his weight, then hissed a little when it jarred the wound in his thigh. "We need to go before they wake up."

"We do," Terezi agreed, handing Daredevil the wrapping. "Make sure you tie it tight." And then she knelt once more, beginning to gather the ninjas' discarded weapons.

"What are you _doing?"_ Daredevil repeated, but at least he was tying the wrapping around his thigh as she'd told him to.

"What? Do you just leave them lying here with their weapons right next to them, nice and handy for whenever they wake up?" Daredevil said nothing. Terezi resisted the urge to groan dramatically. Once she'd gathered the various weapons, Terezi promptly dumped them over the edge of the building and right into a particularly smelly dumpster. She returned to Daredevil's side just as he tied off the makeshift tourniquet.

"Night Nurse?" Terezi asked. Daredevil grunted in the affirmative. The smell of cherries was worryingly strong now, mixing with the actual coppery smell of blood. "I'm holding onto you. Quicker if we swing."

"You can't hold my weight," Daredevil said, sounding entirely too confident for Terezi's taste.

"No, but the cable can. And you can hold the cable, and I can hold you enough that you won't fall off the cable," Terezi said confidently.

"This is a terrible idea," Daredevil said flatly, but he sounded resigned.

"Neither of us seem the type to have good ones," Terezi said brightly. "Come on, come on. Off we go."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much to everyone who kudo'd and commented, good lord! i wasn't expecting anyone to read this trash. i apologize to anyone with questions re: where i'm going with this or anything in regards to world building, because i have no fucking idea. honestly, i'm surprised i even got another chapter out. i'm pulling all of this directly out of my ass as i go. i didn't proofread this chapter, i was too annoyed after spending 100000 years trying to force it into existence in the first place.
> 
> two notes in regards to shipping: i can never help slipping frank/matt into the background, it seems. also, reminder that i haven't read homestuck in at least five or six years; i've heard there was something to do with davekat in canon, but karkat/terezi was my otp when i was into homestuck and if i end up shipping her with anyone in this (which is doubtful, anyway), it'll be him.

Terezi would never not be grateful for makeup.

Today was the day she was beginning her internship at Nelson and Murdock, and the criminals she'd apprehended the previous night hadn't exactly been gentle. Though she couldn't do anything about her split lip, Terezi easily covered the bruising on the side of her face. Before she left, Terezi sent Karkat a selfie just to be certain.

 **GC:** 4M 1 PR3S3NT4BL3?  
**CG:** why the fuck do you still type like that?  
**GC:** 1TS 34S13R TH4N PR3SS1NG TH3 BUTTON 5 T1M3S TO G3T TO TH3 R1GHT L3TT3R  
**GC:** 1 H4V3 4 FL1P PHON3 R3M3MB3R  
**GC:** 1 4M BL1ND  
**CG:** why do you still use a fucking flip phone? touch screen phones have a shitton of accessibility options now.  
**GC:** 1 4M POOR  
**CG:** touche. but we both know you just use being blind as an excuse to continue typing like an asshole.  
**GC:** TH3N WHY D1D YOU 4SK  
**GC:** PR3S3NT4BL3 OR NO? MY L3FT CH33K 1S BRU1S3D  
**CG:** yeah, you're good. i don't see anything.  
**GC:** TH4NK YOU  >:*  
**CG:** you're an embarrassment to society.  
**CG:** good luck.

Terezi snapped her phone shut and slid it into her pocket. She'd decided to forego skirts for the foreseeable future; her legs often ended up bruised after a long night, and skirts were a bitch to wear, anyway. The subway ride to the office was uneventful, and luckily, Terezi arrived at the office right on time. She arrived even before Mr. Murdock, in fact, who Mr. Nelson sheepishly explained was often late.

"He likes to blame it on his blindness, but clearly that's not hindering you," Mr. Nelson said. Terezi smiled; she liked that he didn't try to awkwardly dance around her disability.

"I think you and I will get by alright," Terezi shrugged. The layout of the room had changed since she'd been here last, she could tell; there were now two desks in the front room, one of which she supposed was her own. Still, that wasn't something she could share with Mr. Nelson, and so Terezi turned her head toward him. "If it's not too much trouble, could you show me around the office, Mr. Nelson?"

"Oh ─ you can just call me Foggy," he laughed. "But yeah, of course." Terezi stepped closer and wrapped a hand around Foggy's upper arm, letting him guide her around the space.

Eventually, Terezi sat down with a stack of files in Braille, intending to familiarize herself with Nelson & Murdock's most recent cases. An hour passed like this, and eventually, Terezi heard Mr. Nelson -- er, Foggy -- pick up the phone in his office to call someone. As she'd suspected, said someone was Mr. Murdock. She didn't _try_ to listen in on their conversation, but...

Okay, she was definitely trying.

"Matt, where the hell are you?" Foggy hissed.

"Had a little trouble last night. I'm sorry, Foggy, I must have been tired enough to sleep through my alarm."

"How _much_ trouble, Matt?" Foggy asked, voice thick with worry even as he lowered it, almost whispering into the phone. "Are you bleeding out in a dumpster somewhere?"

"That was _one time,_ Foggy," Mr. Murdock said, sounding exasperated. "I'm fine. Really. I saw Claire last night. I just... Might not make it into the office today."

Terezi's brow furrowed. Why would a blind man be bleeding out in a dumpster? Her thoughts went briefly to Daredevil the night before, and...

... Nah. No way there were _two_ blind vigilantes running around Hell's Kitchen. It must be some strange inside joke.

"Alright," Foggy sighed. Terezi heard a rustling that indicated he'd run his hand through his hair. "Terezi started today. What the hell do I tell her?"

"Shit. She probably knows better than to buy the whole 'walked into something' thing, huh?"

"Probably," Foggy agreed. "Should I just tell her you're sick?"

Mr. Murdock paused for a moment. "Yeah," he finally agreed. "Might as well be. I think I'm going to ask around about this Redglare vigilante. She... Helped me last night. She's good," Mr. Murdock said grudgingly.

_Oh._

"Please tell me 'ask around' doesn't mean what I think it does."

"Foggy, I don't like him any more than you do, but he has connections─"

"Bullshit. You waxed poetic over his voice and the way he smells the last time we got drunk. Who the hell thinks the smell of gunpowder is _sexy?_ "

"Shut up, Foggy," Mr. Murdock deflected weakly after a few seconds' pause. "I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Terezi I'm sorry I couldn't make it in today."

Okay. So maybe there _were_ two blind vigilantes in Hell's Kitchen. And they both worked at the same law firm.

Oh, God, Daredevil was her _boss_.

Terezi was trying very hard not to freak out by the time Foggy left his office. She was doing her best not to fidget, instead pretending to read the file in front of her. When Foggy paused in front of her desk, Terezi tilted her head slightly in his direction, fingers stilling against the page.

"Matt, um, said he got food poisoning," Foggy informed her. "He said he's sorry he couldn't be here on your first day."

Terezi could smell the lie even if she hadn't overheard his phone conversation. He sounded as guilty as he smelled. Terezi just smiled and nodded once. "It's alright," she said simply, shrugging one shoulder. "Did you see where I set my Brailler? I wanted to take notes on this..."

─

"Mr. Punisher!" Terezi grinned, not bothering to turn and look over her shoulder when she tasted leather and gunmetal on the air. She kept most of her attention on the docks below her, waiting for the arms dealer she knew would be there soon. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Daredevil is sniffing around. Askin' about you." The Punisher said without preamble, crouching beside her at the edge of the roof. "You can just call me Frank," he added haltingly. Terezi paused, tilting her head toward him for a second as if to look at him, then returned her sightless gaze to the docks.

"Frank," she echoed, trying not to smile. She was on a first-name basis with the Punisher. "Do you know what Daredevil wants with me, Frank?"

"Not really," Frank replied. "Think he just likes keepin' tabs on what vigilantes are where. He's... Territorial."

"Well, I'm pretty sure I saved him from being murdered by a bunch of _ninjas_ last, so I don't see why he doesn't think he can trust me."

"The Devil don't really trust anyone," Frank said. Terezi heard him shrug. "You should stay outta his ninja bullshit, though. That hasn't ended well for anyone I've seen get involved."

Terezi's attention was drawn away from Frank when she heard tires crunching on gravel below them. She crouched down lower, listening intently; Frank must have caught on, because he followed her lead.

They didn't get the chance to do much more talking, after that.

"Thank you," Terezi said when they were done, pushing hair out of her face, "for not killing anyone. Daredevil must be rubbing off on you." Her pleased smile shifted into a smirk. "Maybe literally?"

"Don't," Frank said simply, but she could smell the pretty pinkish flush on his face. It was sort of adorable. "I just wanted to tell you he was askin' about you, that's all."

"What did you tell him?"

"The truth." Frank shrugged. "I don't know anythin' about you, kiddo."

Terezi bristled. "Call me that again, and I'll break your nose, Frank Castle."

She could hear the grin in Frank's voice when he replied, "Sure. Seeya around, kid."


End file.
